Seasons of Tomorrow

Praise for
Seasons of Tomorrow

“Woodsmall continues the Amish Vines and Orchards series with a standout Amish heroine in a unique Maine community trying to forge a new path. Fans of Amish fiction will enjoy her detailed descriptions of orchard life, and all readers will be touched and satisfied by the ongoing love story.”

—A
MANDA
F
LOWER
, author of
A Plain Disappearance

“Cindy Woodsmall is an incredibly gifted author, and her books never fail to engage the mind and touch the heart.”

—M
INDY
S
TARNS
C
LARK
, best-selling author of
Shadows of Lancaster County, The Amish Midwife
, and more

“Cindy Woodsmall is a masterful storyteller. In
Seasons of Tomorrow
, she uses her extensive knowledge of the Amish to create characters who tug at your heart as they deal with the joys and tribulations of falling in love. This is her best book yet. Readers won’t want to miss it!”

—B
ARBARA
C
AMERON
, award-winning author of forty books, including the Amish Roads series

B
OOKS BY
C
INDY
W
OODSMALL

S
ISTERS OF THE
Q
UILT SERIES
When the Heart Cries
When the Morning Comes
When the Soul Mends

A
DA
’
S
H
OUSE SERIES
The Hope of Refuge
The Bridge of Peace
The Harvest of Grace

A
MISH
V
INES AND
O
RCHARDS SERIES
A Season for Tending
The Winnowing Season
For Every Season
Seasons of Tomorrow

N
OVELLAS
The Sound of Sleigh Bells
The Christmas Singing
The Dawn of Christmas
The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

N
ONFICTION
Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home
and the Hearts of Two Women

SEASONS OF TOMORROW
PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-307-72998-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-307-72999-6

Copyright © 2014 by Cindy Woodsmall

Cover design and photography by Kelly L. Howard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.

WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodsmall, Cindy.
   Seasons of tomorrow / Cindy Woodsmall. — First edition.
      pages ; cm. — (Amish vines and orchards ; book 4)
   ISBN 978-0-307-72998-9 (trade pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-307-72999-6
1. Amish—Fiction. 2. Christian fiction. I. Title.
   PS3623.O678S434 2014
   813′.6—dc23

v3.1

To my brother Mark
one of the most exceptional,
steadfast, honorable men
I’ve ever been privileged to know

Contents

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Amish Vines and Orchards series

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

Chapter Thirty-three

Chapter Thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-five

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-seven

Chapter Thirty-eight

Epilogue

Main Characters in
Seasons of Tomorrow

Glossary

Amish Vines and Orchards series

The story so far …

In
A Season for Tending
, Rhoda Byler, a twenty-two-year-old Amish girl, struggles to suppress the God-given insights she receives. Her people don’t approve of such intuitions. Because of their superstitions and fears, Rhoda spends most of her time alone in her bountiful fruit and herb garden or with her assistant, Landon, canning her produce for her business—Rhode Side Stands. Although she lives with her parents, two married brothers, and their families, Rhoda is isolated and haunted by guilt over the death of her sister two years ago.

Thirty miles away, in the Amish district of Harvest Mills, three brothers—Samuel, Jacob, and Eli King—are caretakers of their family’s apple orchard. Samuel has been responsible for the success of Kings’ Orchard since he was a young teen, but due to Eli’s negligence, one-third of their orchard has produced apples that are only good for canning. If Samuel doesn’t find a way to turn more profit on those apples, he’ll have to sell part of the orchard, resulting in even smaller harvests in the future.

When Samuel and Rhoda meet, they see eye to eye on very little until she shows him her fruit garden. He soon realizes that her horticultural skills are just what he needs to restore the orchard, and her canning business could provide an established outlet for their apples—if he can convince her to partner with them. Without telling his girlfriend, Catherine, he asks Rhoda to work with Kings’ Orchard.

Rhoda declines … until someone maliciously destroys her garden and her livelihood. She gives her land to her brothers and commits to partnering with Kings’ Orchard. Before long she and Jacob begin courting, and Samuel severs his relationship with Catherine.

Just as they begin to harvest the apples, a tornado destroys most of the orchard and almost costs Samuel his life. In an effort to make a new start, Jacob, Samuel, Rhoda, Landon, and others decide to buy an abandoned apple orchard in Maine that they can restore. As the families commit to establishing an Amish community in Maine, Samuel realizes he’s in love with Rhoda.

As
The Winnowing Season
opens, a small group is preparing to move to Maine—Rhoda Byler, her brother Steven, his family, her assistant Landon Olson, brothers Samuel and Jacob King, and their sister Leah. Their goal is to establish a new Amish community and to cultivate an abandoned apple orchard to replace the income from the orchard the tornado destroyed.

But the day before they leave, Rhoda’s church leaders insist she attend a meeting, because Samuel has reported Rueben Glick for vandalizing her garden. She’s upset with Samuel and dreads going, but to make matters worse, Jacob, her boyfriend, is called away at the last minute. Samuel goes with her and is outraged at the hostility and suspicion they express toward Rhoda. Although the meeting does not go well, Rhoda is given permission to move to Maine in good standing with the church.

The following day the Bylers and Kings leave, except for Jacob, who never returned. Rhoda feels alone in her new surroundings as she continues to see her late sister and begins to hear music and a new voice calling her to meet an isolated couple, Camilla and Bob Cranford. She tries to confide in Samuel, but he pushes her away for fear she’ll discover he’s in love with her.

When Jacob arrives, Rhoda begins to learn about his past and his connection to a non-Amish woman named Sandra. Jacob and Rhonda’s love and loyalty to each other are unshaken, and everyone at the farm soon settles in to revitalizing the orchard. Whenever Jacob’s past calls him away, the others work extra to make up for his absence.

Although most of their neighbors welcome the Amish, Rhoda finds herself in legal trouble as three teenagers from powerful families accuse her of giving them drugs. That forces Jacob into hiding to protect Rhoda from negative scrutiny because of his past. As pressures mount, Samuel helps her find strength.

Months pass with Jacob gone, and Samuel continues to withhold his feelings from Rhoda. After she is finally cleared of charges, Samuel is alone with her in the barn, and the conversation turns personal. His emotions get the best of him, and he kisses her. Rhoda is swept up in the moment before pushing him away. Almost immediately Jacob arrives home and discovers what has happened. He breaks up with her and is furious with his brother. Without explanation, Samuel withdraws from her. Rhoda realizes she has lost both men, so she moves in with Bob and Camilla, hoping Jacob will eventually forgive her.